Ghana’s position will have significant impact in Africa, says Mohammed Bouden

One more country. It is the Republic of Ghana which decided to suspend its relations with the “Polisario Front”, 46 years after having recognized the so-called “Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)” in 1979. The announcement of this news was made in an official document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Republic of Ghana addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Residing Abroad of the Kingdom of Morocco.

The decision was taken, according to the Ghanaian authorities, in support of the Autonomy Plan presented by the Kingdom in 2017, underlining the support of the Ghanaian State for the good faith efforts deployed by Morocco in order to achieve an accepted solution by all parties.

The position of the Republic of Ghana is a major diplomatic decision dealing a sharp blow to the separatists and their allies, thus supporting Morocco’s sovereignty over its Southern Provinces. This change of position breathes new life into Moroccan-Ghanaian relations.

This position is added to the long list of States having recognized the Moroccan nature of the Sahara. It is worth its weight in gold considering Ghana’s position as one of the ten best economies and major democracies in Africa. It will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the development projects undertaken by the Kingdom in the southern provinces.

This change also coincides with the inauguration of the new Ghanaian president, John Dramani Mahama, held yesterday Tuesday January 7 in Accra, the Ghanaian capital. A timing which testifies to the desire of this country to strengthen its relations with Morocco, considering that the Sahara issue is the prism through which the Kingdom considers its international environment and develops its partnerships.

“It is also the result of the role that Morocco plays on the continent, particularly in terms of investments, referring to the gas pipeline project, which will extend over more than 6,500 km, including a southern section which will extend the existing gas pipeline linking Nigeria to Ghana to Ivory Coast,” underlines Mohamed Bouden, president of the Atlas Center for the Analysis of Political and Institutional Indicators.

In 2017, the Republic of Ghana was among the first countries to support Polisario membership in the African Union. An act that he corrects today by suspending his relations with the separatists. “The increased continental and international ignorance of the Polisario should lead, without doubt, to reviewing the supposed legitimacy of the SADR to be a member of the African Union (AU) due to the absence of key state conditions,” according to the president of the Atlas Center.

Before Ghana, other influential countries on the international scene followed the same path on the Sahara issue, such as Panama, which announced, last November, the suspension of its relations with the separatists, thus favoring a peaceful solution. , just, lasting and acceptable to the parties concerned by the Sahara question.

To date, 46 countries (including 13 African) have severed all ties with the SADR since 2000, and more than 100 support the autonomy plan. In addition, Ghana’s new position comes less than two months before the 38th Summit of the African Union, scheduled for February 15. “As a result, it will have a significant impact on the perception of other African states which will certainly follow the same path,” notes the expert.

It goes without saying that the new positions vis-à-vis the Polisario, including that of Ghana, are part of the continuity of the dynamic driven by His Majesty King Mohammed VI in recent years, in order to establish Moroccanness. of the Sahara and the Autonomy Plan as the sole basis for solution to this artificial regional dispute created and maintained by Algeria.